Letter to the Editor: Vote yes on Proposition 2

To the Editor:

Early voting has already started, and you have until Election Day on Nov. 4 to hand in or postmark your absentee ballot. Make sure you get out to vote in any way possible! Every vote counts, especially on the local and county levels. If you have any questions on how or when to vote, please contact the Orange County Board of Elections at (845) 360-6500.

Please remember to flip your ballot over and vote YES on Proposition number two to KEEP our council terms four years and staggered. The Town Board and I finally implemented our ward system which the people overwhelmingly voted in favor of in 2018. 2026 will be the first year we finally use it. The adoption of the local law required to implement our ward system had the unfortunate side effect of changing our town board terms from four to two-year terms and from being elected on a staggered schedule to being elected all on the same year. There was no way to prevent this unnecessary change other than putting it up for a ballot referendum again.

This change would not be a good way for the town to run efficiently. Four-year terms allow for a council member to effectively govern and not worry about campaigning, fundraising, and general politicking all the time. One of the reasons why Congress is generally broken and ineffective, regardless of who is in charge, is because they are so worried about their next election and how much money they need to raise. Additionally, staggered schedules make sure you always have experience on the Town Board in any given year. If you have all town board seats up on the same year, you allow for the possibility of all four council members being voted out of office, leaving no experienced council member to help the Town Supervisor govern.

No matter what side you are on in this election, we should all be able to agree to KEEP our four-year, staggered town board terms. The people of Chester voted to establish this way of governing once upon a time and it has been working well. There is no reason we should let a wonky side effect of establishing our voter-approved ward system change any of this. Please vote YES on Proposition number two.

Brandon Holdridge

Chester Town Supervisor